Temperature responsive means



w. J. CRITES TEMPERATURE RESPONS IVE MEAN S I Aug. 4, 1942.

Original Filed July 11, 1938 WILB'UR JI CRITES .ducing methods,

Patented Aug. 4, 1 942 UNITED STATES; PATENT OFFICE 'mmnna'rungfiiszmsivr: mums Wilb ur :4 crimes, Bartlesville, on, minorto Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Original application .July 11, 1938, Serial No. 218,659. Divided and this application June 8, 1940, Serial No. 339,566 L 2 Claims- (Cl. 291- 4) This invention relates to the use of thermal expansion devices for the purpose of imparting mo-.

tio'n. It often happens that the magnitude of the motion required is greater than the capacity of the actuating unit or if the unit is of sufllcient capacity the space required is prohibitive, or the stability of the unit-is such that it lacks the strength to directly operate the mechanism to which it is applied. The primary object of this invention is to afiord a mechanism that is responsive to temperature changes in the translation of motion to a complementary mechanism in which the actuating mechanismoccupied a minimum amount of space and imparts maximum motion and force to its complement.

This invention further relates to improvements in devices for automatically adjusting at the bottom of an oil well, or at some point below the ground surface, the flow of oil and gas, so that the well may be producedat a rate and/or in such a manner that the least amount of gas will be produced, or at a rate and/or in a manner that less gas will be produced than would be the case without this device. The device may be used to control the production of oil and/or gas coming from the-producing formation, or it, may be used to control the oil or the oil and gas comingfrom the producing formation activated-by gas injected extraneously. The apparatus herein disclosed is an improvement over the a para-.-

tus shown in Patent 1,961,280 issued June 5, 1934, with the present inventor as a joint inventor thereof for carrying forward'the same method disclosed in said patent, and is further a division of my co-pending applicationSerial No-.:218,659, filed July 11, 1938, which issued .as Patent No. 2,213,950 on September 10, 1940.

The invention further relates to improvements in devices for the recording of bottom hole'temperatures or the range ofvariation in bottom oil well. 1

A further object of the invention is to furnish the oil industry with a valve or choke, rugged in construction and positive and automatic in operation and adjustments, whereby the production ofoil and gas may be so controlled that a greater amount of gas energy may be conserved in the producing formation than under customary proand possibly a greater amount thanby any other method. The device may be applied to wells flowing under their own energy, to wells flowed by the introduction of extraneous gas, to wells in which the fluid islifted by mechanical means, or to any combination of such lifting forces. i

A still further object is to provide av device for the above-mentioned purposes, the adjustment 5 and operation of which is efiected bythermal.

control means, for example, through the expan-'- sion and contraction of confined liquids under changing temperatures. s v

In the production of any oil well, as the ratio of gas to'oil increases, the temperature decreases;

and conversely, as the ratio of gas to oil decreases, the temperature increases. Consequent- 1y, a deviceacting in response to temperature changes, we have discovered, may be used to control the flow so that the flow will be increased a under increasing temperatures in the well,

- whereby. the oil will be. produced with less gas than if allowed to flow unrestricted or by a regulation that is unaffected by a gas-oil ratio in iluence.

It will therefore be understood that anotherobject of our-invention is to supply means for producing oil at low gas-oil ratiosthrough the ,use of thermallyoperated devices responsive to changing temperatures coincident to changing gas-oil ratios whereby the thermally operated -.,,device is contacted by the liquid from the well before the fluid passes through the-restricting valve or choke.

7 A still further object of the device is to use the same as a temperature recording mechanism to determine the variation of temperature existing inthewell. I

With the foregoing objects outlined and. with other objects'in view'which will appear as the;

' description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described'in dctail, illustrated. in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the append- 40 edc =hole temperatures in the bottom of a producing Inthe drawing: Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view illustrat-' ing theapplication of the device to beplaced in an'oil well,

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the choke Figure 3 is a plan view showing the top of thechokevalve', 7 l j Figure 4 is a side elevational view of one of the expansive niembers'showing the approximate shape as derived from the collapsing of a sphere,

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view i1lustrating the application of the device as a, temperature recording mec hamsm. Referring first to Figure 1,1 indicates a string 2 of tubing to 'be placed within the casing lining awell bore andhaving a-choke housingpr case 2 attached on the end of the tubing. The housing 2 is lowered until it reaches the producing formation where the liquid from the well enters chamber 3 in the housing 2 through the perforations 4.; The liquid from the well surrounds the expansion 'fiuid containers 5 which are connected together by the rods 6 and the lowermost container is connected to the housing bottom through the rod .1. Rod 8 is connected to the upper most container which in turn connects to the flowchoke 9.

The expansion fluid containers5 are filled with mercury or any other fluid having a high coefficient of expansion and constructed as shown in Figure 4. The body of the containers is made from a light gauge metal and any metal possessing the requisite strength may be employed. The body is first made in the shape of a sphere as shown in dotted line and then pressed to the finalshape, whereby the design of the thermal unitis arrived at by the collapse of a sphere to the point that the collapsing surfaces tact with each other as indicated in Figure 4. Coupling members l0 and H for the connected rods are placed on top and bottom of the containers. The container is first filled with mercury before the top coupling member II is attached by welding or any other attaching means found suitable. A series of containers are then ataaencee I in such a position as to be affected by. the true well condition before the gas has had a chance to expand after going through the choke and tends for more accurate choking of the flow.

As many containers 5 maybe used as are nec-'- essary to get" the required vertical movement to open or close the choke 9. The temperature differential will be slight each container can be expected so the movement of a number of them must be added together.- Q In placing thedevice in a well it is first necessary.-

to know the bottom hole temperature so that the containers 5 may, be calibrated and number needed determined from the rate of production at which thewell is to be flowed. Once the temperature of the well is known the containers 5 are come in close contached together by the rods 6 and 'l and connected to the fiow choke 9 by means of rod 6. The flow choke seats on the valve seat l2 and has vanes l3 to guide the chokein its vertical movement,

In the operation of the choke, the liquid from the well flows into the chamber 3 through the perforations 4. The liquid surrounds the containers 5 and the mercury in the containers assumes the same temperature as the liquid andis likewise responsive to any change in temperature. The containers are so constructed that the valley portion 5A thereof is the weakestportion of the container and the mercury in expanding or contracting, will ext its pressure at this point and cause the wall of the container to move upwardly or downwardly as. the case may be. The container is shown in fully extended position in thesolid linesof Figure 1 while the dotted lines show the container fully collapsed. As can be seen, the expansion and contraction of the members 5 may be translated into a vertical up -and down movement. The vertical movement is transmitted from container to container 5 through the coupling means 6, rod 6 and finally to the choke member 9 where it acts either to seat or to lift the choke 9 from the seat l2. In this manner the oil from the well flows through the space between the valve seat I 2 and choke 9 and the amount of oil flowing will be regulated by. the extent of said opening. 'It is noted that in the present invention, the thermally responsive means flowing from the well before the oil and gas flow through the choke member and in this manner 5 are contacted by the oil and gas the thermally responsive means is contacted be-,

that the temperature responsive means are placed 7 placedin the choke housing the well temperature. It is the number of containers or 5 are suflicient to give the 2 and subjected .to then determined if required space or opening between the valve seat l2 and choke '9 to give the production desired. If not, more containers or expansible members 5- are added. When once calibrated and ready for the well hole, the device is removed from the temperature bath. This will allow the mercury in the containers to contract which in turn will pull the choke 9 tightly onto the seat plated placing-the choke in the well immediately, so that little danger of the choke sticking on the valve seat I 2 is present. As previously recited, as more and more gas appears with the oil, the temperature in the chamber 3 will be lowered which will tend to contract the mercury in expansible members 5 and thus close the choke 9. Again the important phase of the. present disclosure is that the temperature responsive means is on the down side of the choke and not affected by any changes of temperature due to expansion of gas after it passes through the choke means.

'Figure 5 shows the application of the vertical movement of expansion fluid containers to a recording temperature tions of temperature which may exist in the bottom of a well. A case or housing 20 is shown which may be lowered into the well on a wire line attached to the eye 2|. The bottom of the housing 26 has openings or slots 2IA which allow the Mounted in the housing 20 and supported on the bottom thereof-by means of rod 22 are the mercury filled .expansible containers 23 which are of the'same construction as'previously described for the flow choke means. The expansible members 23 are connected together by means of coupling rods 24 as previously described and the operation and functioning of the expansible means is identical with that previously setforth for the flow choke. The uppermost expansible container 23.

the upper end of the housing 20 is a clock mech anism 29 which may be of anyknown design to rotate the shaft 26. Mounted on the shaft 26 and rotatable therewith is the recording cylinder holder 36 which has a wax or soft metal lining 3| around the interior of the cylinder 30. The

stylus 21 contacts the wax or soft metal on the cylinder and makes a recording thereon of any variation in temperature.

In the operation of the recording temperature gauge, it is first necessary to determine the bottom hole temperature bysome known means in so that smallmovementof expansible membersl2. However, it is contemgauge to measure the variafluid from the well to enter the housing.

aaeneca order to calibrate the. expansiole containers 23. Once calibrated the device is lowered into the well with the clock mechanism 29 set in motion and the device allowed to remain in the well a requisite length of time. The clock mechanism will rotate the shaft 2e'which in turn will rotate the cylinder 30 keyed thereto. The stylus 2'11 mounted on rod 25 will remain stationary and trace a line on the wax or metal coating 36 on; the eviinder 30. Any change in temperature in the well will cause expansion and contraction in the expansible containers which in turn will be transmittegi to the rod 25 as a vertical movement. This vertical movement up and down of the rod 25 will carry with it the stylus 2? which in turn will trace and record its movement on the wax or soft metal 39 on the cylinder 3t. lln this manner a truepicture of the variations in tempera-- ture in the wellbottom may be had from a study of the line traced on the coating owing the coefilcient of expansion of mercury and from previous calibration of the .expansible containers,

'the degrees of change of temperature can easily be calculated.

- From the foregoing it is believed that the con= struction, operation and advantages of our invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, and it is apparent that changes may be made in details disclosed, without departing from the spirit of the invention, as expressed in the claim What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for use under extel pressure for imparting linear movement in response to temperature changes ing hermetically sealed fluid container of a nemble metal; said container ha the shape resulting from the collapse of a sphere in one di= rection along a diametrical axis of the sphere,

comprising a seli sustain 'for imparting linear temperature changes comprising a housing; a

the resulting container having ,a convex bottom with a radius of. curvature greater than that of the ori'a sphere, a concave top with a radius of curvature less than that of the bottom, a convex side wall joining the top with thebottom and having a radius of curvature less than that of the bottom; a substantially incompressible liquid filling said conter, thermal volume changes of said liquid operating to move the top of said container relative to the bottom thereof; and means associated with the top ot the container for transmitting linear movement to the member to be actuated. v

' 2. Apparatus for use under external pressure movement plurality of self sustaining hermetically sealed fluid containers of flexible metal mounted in said housing, the lowermost container being rigidly secured to the bottom of the housing by a coupling member; resulting from the collapse of a sphere in one direction along a diametrical axis of the sphere,

the resulting container having a convex bottom with a radius of curvature greater than that of the original sphere, a concave top with a radius oi. curvature less than that of the bottom, a convex side wall joining the top with the bottom and having a radius of curvature less than that that of the bottom; a substantially incompressible liquid filling said containers, thermal volume changes of said liquid operating to move the top of said container relative to the bottom thereof; coup men mounted between and on the tops and bottoms of the containers for transmitting movement from container to container; and a coupling means connectedto the uppermost'container for transmitting linear movement to the mleer to be actuated.

men J. car-ms.

in response to each container having the shape, 

